MSI seeks to Shield M.2 SSDs from thermal throttling

A good bit of the PC enthusiast product space is devoted to solving problems most computer users rarely experience or notice. The proliferation of mechanical keyboards, RGB-illuminated graphics cards, and tempered-glass case panels serve as examples. MSI seems to think that thermal throttling on high-end M.2 storage devices may be next product to separate corporate desktops from enthusiast rigs. The company may be onto something, if our experience with Samsung's otherwise excellent SM951 SSD is anything to go by. MSI dropped a photo of a specially-shaped heatsink called the M.2 Shield on its Twitter feed early this morning.

Details were sparse, but the M.2 Shield appears to natively accept a 2280 (80mm) M.2 storage device, and it has additional mounting holes to accept devices in 2260 and 2242 sizes. The build materials were left unspecified, but we expect that the heat shield is constructed from aluminum. Whatever the material, the lower side of the M.2 Shield is coated with a thermal pad to facilitate heat transfer and eliminate the possibility of short-circuits against a bare PCB. The effectiveness of this product likely depends on the locations of other heat-generating components in the system.